GamesIndustry International has details from a Swedish report indicating Mojang is working on a Minecraft Realms mode for their indie hit Minecraft, as a way for parents to allow their kids to play without the potential hazards they could be exposed to on independently administered game servers. Mojang CEO Carl Manneh speculates this may actually generate more income than the game has already earned, and here's an outline of how this will work:

Subscribers will be given their own self-contained world, with full control over who has access and their friends list. Only one person per world will need a Realms account, and anyone invited to join will need a copy of Minecraft and an internet connection.

The price of the subscription has not been set, but Mojang has indicated that it will be between $10 and $15 a month. It also intends to issue special pre-paid cards for those with no access to credit cards. Ultimately, Manneh believes that Realms has the potential to open up Minecraft to new players, and, in the long-term, become as strong a source of revenue as Minecraft itself.

I don't think them offering server hosting is really greedy. It's hard to find a reliable server host for Minecraft at a reasonable price, and even harder to find an existing server that isn't filled with nightmarish douchebags. Especially for the younger players they seem to be trying to cater to here.

Minecraft has a lot of younger players who have to deal with a pretty abrasive community, or else play by themselves. Getting their own server with an easy-mode control panel and friend system would be really fantastic. Especially if it's only like $10 a month.

This isn't really targeted at people who run their own servers and are skilled enough to fix problems that arise. I have a Minecraft server with a custom mod pack of 70 mods and there's a new problem every day I have to hunt down.

Article suggests they will even be providing some safe mod options too.